ben thompson has been atjaguar land rover lancaster, in reading...hen i arrived this morning, plastic screens, constant reminders about staying two metres apart, if you wa nt to staying two metres apart, if you want to test drive the car they will let you inside but they will make sure it is fully cleaned before the next customer can have a look at it, but what has it been like for customer trying to get any advice on the cabin lockdown? let us speak to jan he was with me this morning. morning, we have been up against it, trying to get help with your car and a bit of advice about what to do in this place has been close to ten weeks. what have you done?” this place has been close to ten weeks. what have you done? i have been e—mailing the guys here and theyin been e—mailing the guys here and they in turn have come back to me advising me what to do as the car has been in the garage not moving the eight to ten weeks sol has been in the garage not moving the eight to ten weeks so i really wanted some advice on how or what i need to do with the carjust a

let's speak to our business presenter ben thompson.ou heard from portugal's foreign minister, sa ntos from portugal's foreign minister, santos silva, saying quarantine as the enemy of tourism. it is something we have heard from all the big travel firms, airlines, travel agents and the wider industry, because very few people will be willing, it seems, to book a two—week holiday in the sun and then have to book another two weeks off after that to be able to quarantine themselves when they return to the uk. now, plans are expected to be announced by the home secretary later this afternoon. those plans will insist that anyone returning to the uk will need to quarantine themselves, and if they don't they will face a fine of up to £1000. what they are hoping for, and this is something that all of the travel phones are pinning their hopes on, is the idea of air bridges. that is a link between the uk and countries with lower infection rates that could provide some sort of answer. so, it would be a specific list of destinations where people may

here's ben thompson at an outlet centre in ashford to the south east of london.quite a while to come and let me talk you through what you mightfind, we and let me talk you through what you might find, we are at mcarthur glen in ashford in kent in the south—east of england. at this place, they have limited the number of people who can get in, they have halved the car parking spaces so straightaway, even at the car park looks busy, there aren't as many people here and that is to limit how many people can get in and you might find you have to queue before you even get into the shops. monica is on the door here making sure that there are no more than three, four or five making sure that there are no more than three, four orfive people making sure that there are no more than three, four or five people are at the shop in any one time and when get in, it at the shop in any one time and when getin, it “elf " "' ' 7 w w” at the shop in any one time and when getin, it z’gbzéfeel "' " " at the shop in any one time and when get in, it “g“ feel different, " '* " you get in, i

our business correspondent, ben thompson, is at ashford designer outlet in kent.yes, simon. welcome to ashford in kent and you can see some of the cues that have been forming since it opened at ten o'clock this morning, stretching right the way back down there to get into some of these stores. don't be fooled, it might be busier than it is. take a look, the queue outside and they are limiting how many can get in there. half of the car park is still closed and limiting the amount of people who can shop so they can abide by their social distancing rules as much as possible. an important day in england, the british retail consortium estimates it has cost £1.8 billion a week for nonessential retailers to stay close. the question is, do people feel confident coming back here? a study suggested 43% of us feel confident to get back out and shop again. but retailers are worried about the impact it could have on them. we have missed you, they say and the doors are open. they want to get the message out that it is safe, with certain rules in place, hand sanitiser and social

our business correspondent, ben thompson is at mcarthur glen retail park in ashford in kent which isat some of the queues forming, that part of plans because as well as trying to get into the shop you will have to queue to come into the centre and it limited the amount of people who can come here to make sure social distancing measures can be put and keptin distancing measures can be put and kept in place. the shopping experience will look and feel very different. this place opening at 10am, most people was driven in the car but they have half the number of car but they have half the number of car parking spaces to limit that. this queueing is something we should get used to for a while. earlier i spoke to the general manager here and he told me what has changed and what could feel and look very different. it isa different. it is a very different offer in terms of what you say but the service is still the same, you can come in and have a coffee, at the minute you cannot sit down you can have a and walk around. in the stores, you try on clothes they will be quarantine, some fitting ro

let's talk to our business correspondent ben thompson. huge amount about what happened, according to the official figures, what happened, according to the officialfigures, because they what happened, according to the official figures, because they are backward —looking and in many respects they hide the true state of what is going on with ourjobs market. to get that answer we need to look at alternative numbers, numbers about the claimant count, the number of people using universal credit, one of the forms of benefit in the uk, to top up their earnings, but also jobseeker‘s allowance if they are out of work, that rising significantly, up by 75%, coming in at 2.8 million. that is up sharply from the 1.6 million claiming it in the period before. we also get an indication of the number of hours people are working. those are down significantly. and the fall in the number of new vacancies, job vacancies out there, down by another 60%. and we have to rely on those figures to tell us what is perhaps really going on because the headline rate of u

so that hasnot happened, peopl have talked about it ben thompson mentioned it, the idea that you havecompanies the idea of the platforms being so powerful and even if their guide leans are good they don't fit everybody. when you're at a certain level, you could be real lated measure the way an electrical utility is at the same time they can't do certain things it will have to be sorted out, but there is a lot of discomfort able app makers that won't speak up because they feel like they will come under the watchful eye of apple or google >> i think this time is different. i think regardless of whether or not you agree with apple or david's position this might be a massive strategic plunter on apple's part you turned them into a folk hero among small developers, and he's the guy you don't want in that position he invested ruby on rails, he invented base camp, he doesn't have to worry about reputation destruction, and now he is speaking for them. this is an order of magnitude more dangerous than when they were speaking out against google as the held of yelp. now all of the regulators hav

ben thompson there."far too premature" to reduce the 2 metre rule. pupils in scotland will be able to return to schools full—time from the 11th of august as long as the virus continues to be suppressed. the scottish education secretary has announced that pupils in scotland will be able to return to schools full time if coronavirus continues to be surpressed. speaking in the scottish parliament, john swinney said all schools would be able to reopen from august providing the virus remained under control. now, thankfully, the picture looks more positive. since may, because of the efforts of our fellow citizens to stay at home, we have seen scotla nd to stay at home, we have seen scotland to make significant progress. there are now only 2000 infectious people in scotland, a reduction of around 90% since may. there has been a sustained downward trend in covid—19 deaths. intensive ca re trend in covid—19 deaths. intensive care cases trend in covid—19 deaths. intensive ca re cases now trend in covid—19 deaths.

ben thompson is atjaguar land rover lancaster, in reading. hello, ben. good morning. of the retailer is set to open within two weeks. this place has all sorts of measures in place to make sure it is safe. when i arrived this morning i had my temperature taken, hand sanitiser and reminders about social distancing, keeping two metres away and all this sort of stuff, constant reminders about how people need to keep a distance by trying to get business back up and running. when it comes to negotiating that sale, you will do it through these plastic screens, also some things in place to make sure it is safe. good morning, neil. lots of things in place to get you to this point, talk me through the last sort of ten weeks. you haven't been able to open, can you sell cars at a distance? it's all about trying isn't it? we can't we have gone to great digital presence but i think you need a personal touch. great digital presence but i think you need a personaltouch. we have touched on some of the things you had to do to make the front of the shop safe but a load of stuff that's b

let's get more from ben thompson, our business correspondent.'t sound, when you here 2.2% like a massive construction, but it is insignificant? yes, there's a few things to say. the first thing is that it things to say. the first thing is thatitis things to say. the first thing is that it is not unusual for the economic growth figures to be revised in this way. what the office for national statistics, the organisation that compiles the numbers does, they get an initial estimate and then when they get more data, they get a clearer picture. they have revised it down to —2.2%, thatis they have revised it down to —2.2%, that is how much the economy contracted in the first three months of the year until march. just a week of the year until march. just a week of that lockdown, so not a huge shrink in growth. the more true picture will come in the next quarter so when we get the figures for april, may and june. we won't get them for a little while yet. already some of the evidence suggests that april was a disastrous month as far as economic growth is

ben thompson, last week we were talking about renault and nissan, today aston martin announcing moreustry is now trying to determine what it does next, given that slump in car sales, and a vastly different car market than before we entered a lockdown. we have had the latest figures as you say this morning suggesting the number of new cars registered falling by close to 90%, selling just 20,000 cars last month compared to an average selling about 180,000 at the same time the year before. so in that market, car firms are looking at how they respond. this morning news from aston martin, they say they will cut 500 jobs to meet reduced production levels. it talks about a fundamental reset of its business, because it wants to save about £10 million. at the same time, we have also heard from one car dealership who say they will cut 1500 jobs and closed 12 of their showrooms, about 20% of the workforce to cope with the slowdown in sales. and as we discussed, not surprising, but the industry now trying to work out where it goes from here. we can talk about some of the implications with rachel

let's talk to our business correspondent ben thompson. let's speak about these latest jobs figures.on the detail? perversely these figures are interesting because of what they do not tell us. normally the jobs figures give an insight into how much we are working, how many people have been laid off and what the unemployment rate looks like. the headline rate of unemployment changing very little, perhaps because the true state of the jobs market is hidden by the furlough scheme. anybody who has been furloughed, whereby they are not working but the government is paying a proportion about salary, is not officially classed as unemployed. as you mentioned, we may get a more true picture of what is happening in thejobs true picture of what is happening in the jobs market when the furlough scheme ends in october. right now, many employers around the country will look at the future for their business and therefore their staff. they will be working out what they wa nt to they will be working out what they want to do next and what demand will be for their products or services and whether they

ben thompson our business correspondent is here. good morning to you.out the economy shrinking by 20.4%. clearly people knew it would be bad but is this bigger than a lot of the predictions? yes, an astonishing fall, more than 20% down in terms of economic activity and the growth in our economy. the biggest of all the uk has ever seen. on the one hand it's not hugely surprising. this is what happens when an economy shuts down overnight, construction sites, factories, businesses, offices and shops simply couldn't operate. to give you a sense of what we are looking at, that tells us the 20% fall and it puts it into context. you might notice other red blobs around 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. then from peak to trough, from pre—level to the worst of the crisis, the economy shrank 7%. we have seen today that the economy injust 7%. we have seen today that the economy in just the month of april shrank 20.4%. that is a backward —looking indicator and clearly it tells us what has already happened. i think attention will now clearly turn to what h

ben thompson with a nice smile, and it froze, a nice time for it to freeze.me in the house of commons after prime minister's questions. a clinical contract tracer has told us exclusively she's spent much of her time since the government's track and trace system went live — watching netflix, because she hasn't been assigned a single case. the government's scheme began in england last thursday. the health secretary matt hancock says the scheme has been successful. figures disclosed last night for thursday to sunday suggest nearly 4,500 covid—19 cases were reported to test and trace during this time. of those just over 1800 had provided information about their close contacts. the woman who i've been speaking to is a nurse, and has worked around 38 hours in total so far over several shifts earning £17.35 an hour. she says she hasn't made one call in that time and feels guilty for being paid to sit idle. i spoke to becky yesterday evening — it's not her real name because she asked to remain anonymous. it was on the downing street briefing on wednesday, led by matt

ben thompson, our business correspondent, is here.uss the economic news in the studio now. clearly business under a vast amount of pressure especially as we look at the figures today saying the economy fell by 20.4% in april. today saying the economy fell by 20.496 in april. on the one hand you might say it's not hugely surprising. the economy, as we know and like many across the world, ground to halt overnight as lockdown was enforced. but the fall in the uk is more significant than many had been expecting. they were thinking the figure would be closer to 15% and we have been told that for the month of april the economy shrank 20.4%. to put it into context on the graph, you can see a large fall in the month of april at the end of the graph. you might notice the red downward blobs in the middle of the graph, that's the 2008 financial crisis. from peak to trough, from prerecession levels to the worst of it, in 2008, the economy shrank by 796 it, in 2008, the economy shrank by 7% and at the time that was deemed to bea 7% and at the time

ben thompson is atjaguar land rover lancaster, in reading...es in place a lots of signs about social distancing. he touched on the idea that you might be able to go ona on the idea that you might be able to go on a test drive on your own provided all the necessary paperwork is in place. you might notice that the car is not open so that if i wa nt to the car is not open so that if i want to get inside and touch and feel it and have a go i have to let the staff know is that they will clea n the staff know is that they will clean it thoroughly afterwards before anyone else can get in. on the floor there are markers and when it comes to the sale you will have to do it through these perth specs screen so to do it through these perth specs screen so lots of changes here to make sure that it is safe and a lot of changes behind—the—scenes as well so of changes behind—the—scenes as well so let me introduce you to the managing director of jaguar land roverin managing director of jaguar land rover in the uk. we have seen some of the changes here, was a lo

>> two more voices now to talk about apple strategy apple as an investment joe joining us now, ben thompsontart with you and then i'll get to you, ben i think that actually is a word now, just like refudiate and w did stratergery. did you steal it >> he never did it it was will ferrell in his impersonation of george. >> if you are going to mispronounce it, strategery is my -- >> refudiate is pretty damn good. >> i like strategery >> you intuited more than people did. >> pretty darn good work we can improve words, ben. not all the great words have been invented. wamsy, have you seen -- >> hey we'll get back to you in a second >> wamsy, friday, that was disconcerting on so many levels. is apple just more -- they've been more cautious all along we had just had a slew of politicians come in and say no way we're ever reclosing again we just can't do it. good morning thanks for having me it has been an early indicator of sorts they've been doing phased reopens, taking into account what the local conditions are and i think it's important from an apple perspective, they view the safety of their emp

joining me now is our business presenter, ben thompson.f may, but last month, selling just 20,000. not surprising, you might say, given car showrooms we re you might say, given car showrooms were closed as part of the lockdown. tho5e car showrooms got the go—ahead to reopen on monday, so already we are getting a sense of how the industry might find the next few months. i was in a car showroom on monday, and they told me that demand online had been particularly strong. people doing click and collect to try and pick up their cars, but what we might see over the coming months i5a we might see over the coming months is a resurgence in a pent—up demand from people who have not been able to swa p from people who have not been able to swap their car. and also quite a big increa5e to swap their car. and also quite a big increase in the number of people buying used cars. perhaps as public transport look5 le55 buying used cars. perhaps as public transport look5 less attractive in the wake of this lockdown, more people might be seeking to buy their o

ben ray lujan, assistant speaker, member of the eadership, congressman lujan also joining eddie bernice ohnson of the science and technology committee in advancing what mr. peters from the agriculture committee. ongressman -- mr. chairman, benny thompson from humanitarian. security.meland carolyn maloney, protecting our service. from the oversight committee. mr. grijalva, in terms of the america.rastructure of so this is the product of so uch knowledge, experience, the intellectual resources of people utside with their magnificent mobilization at the grassroots level for all of these things. there's any bill that comes together in the congress, that his bill that shows everything in our country is connected. our children to the technologies of the future to road map to get there. so i thank mr. defazio for important occasion possible. to him sometimes in gest but sincerely, our hopes are iding on you with this important transportation bill for the people. the moving forward act. as americans across the country and d justice, equality, change, and congress must join hem by taking bold action to deliver progress in their lives. urge a strong bipartisan vote for the people on h.r. 2. i see mr. blumenauer there who on been a champion infr

here's ben thompson at that same outlet centre in ashford to the south east of london.a while to come and let me talk you through what you might find, we are at mcarthur glen in ashford in kent in the south—east of england. at this place, they have limited the number of people who can get in, they have halved the car parking spaces so straightaway, even at the car park looks busy, there aren't as many people here and that is to limit how many people can get in and you might find you have to queue before you even get into the shops. monica is on the door here making sure that there are no more than three, four or five people are at the shop in any one time and when you get in, it might feel different, advice about social distancing, reminders on the floor of where you can go. also, advice to perhaps consider paying with a card or contactless especially in clothes shops, they don't let you try on the clothes, there say buy, take it home and then if there is a problem, bring it back. they don't want to open changing rooms. you will notice things like a perspex screen right

our business correspondent ben thompson is at ashford designer outlet in kent. gone? i have skilled them off, simon. welcome to as hford skilled them off, simon. welcome to ashford in kent, we are at the mcarthur glen outlet and it has been pretty steady all day. it might look a lot busier in some of these places but that is because they are giving customers outside to maintain social distancing inside. let's take this shot, for example. good afternoon, monica. she is on charge on the front door are limiting how many people are in and out and let me show you over here, were all the usual things you might expect, all the social distancing measures, that sort of thing. after you. please, go on through. a reminder to let you stay away from people, use a card where necessary, things that you will get increasingly used to. we put ina will get increasingly used to. we put in a lot of work to getjust to this point. you opened at 10am, how are you getting on? it has been very good. the customers have been very understanding with all the new procedures in place. everythi